What It's About Bourbon Chocolate Stout

[ianmatth]

6 Gallons:
5 lbs Pale malt
4 lbs Golden Promise
1 lbs Flaked Oats
12 oz Roasted Barley 550L
12 oz Pale Chocolate Malt 200L
8 oz Caramalt
4 oz Blackprinz
2 oz Acidulated Malt
12 g Gypsum

Mash at 144* for 60 minutes in 6 gallons water.
Step mash at 154* for 10 minutes with additional 2.5 gallons acidic water.
Sparge at 170* to fill kettle to 7.5 gallons.

90 minute boil
2 oz Nugget @ 60 minutes
1 oz Williamette @ 20 minutes
4 oz Bittersweet Chocolate, Whirlflock @ 15 minutes
2 oz Williamette @ 5 minutes
2 oz Williamette @ Flame out

1.054 OG, pitched ~225 billion cells WLP045 Scotch Whiskey Yeast, fermenting at 72*

Plan to move to secondary and age on whiskey soaked oak chips, then add a little Bourbon and carbonate.

 

[Hello]

1.054 OG? What was your efficiency?

Sounds like a good beer. There are a lot of hops though. What was the IBU?

 

[Callacave]

Looks good except maybe the Blackprinz seems out of place. I would expect it to be overshadowed by the chocolate and roasted malts. Unless you're using it to add a bit more color. I would personally use some more chocolate and roasted barley, or throw in some black patent. I love deeply roasty/chocolaty stouts though.

Another possible thing I see is you're not adding any chloride, and just gypsum. Although I don't know your water profile, so maybe there's some in there, but I'd actually go the other way with regards a profile. I love more chloride, and just a touch of sulfate to help accentuate the mouthfeel and roundness of a nice stout.

 

[ianmatth]

Hello - Efficiency was close to 75%, would have been over 70% even without the sparge, and could have been close to 90% if my kettle was bigger as I actually had 4 gallons of 1.015 OG wort left from the sparge. Of course then I would have ended up with over 9 gallons at 1.040. IBUs calculated ~100. I once made a 1.044 OG stout that calculated ~100 IBUs and it was great.

Callacave - All the Blackprinz I had. KBS clone uses twice the amount, same amount of roasted and chocolate malt, 1.5 lbs oats, 13.25 pale malt, and crystal 120 instead of Caramalt so I think my profile is pretty on target as far as balancing the dark malts. I like a lot of gypsum, haven't messed with chloride.

 

[Callacave]

Didn't realize you were going for a KBS clone.

Give chloride a try sometime. Gypsum gives a drying effect to the beer. Chloride is great for stouts for body/mouthfeel. Pair it with a little gypsum and keep your mash pH around 5.5, and you'll have a luxurious stout.

 

[ianmatth]

Wasn't going for a KBS clone, but I base my stouts off of that clone just as I base my IPAs off the Heady Topper clone. My mash pH was ~5.5 at room temperature.

 

[ianmatth]

Transferred to secondary on top of a few ounces pre-soaked wood chips. Gravity was down to 1.012.

 

[ianmatth]

I let it age for about a month on oak chips, added 8 oz of bourbon, and bottled. It ended up pretty good, but has a slightly odd taste. I'm not sure if it's from the whiskey I initially soaked the wood chips in or the yeast. I'm going to try the same yeast again for my next stout, but soak the wood chips in bourbon instead.

 

[atom]

It ended up pretty good, but has a slightly odd taste.

some issues i see... probably too much gypsum, pretty low mash temp, excessive finishing hops (vs batch size/OG)

 

[ianmatth]

Did all those things with previous stout I made and did not have the odd taste, so it's the yeast or the whiskey I soaked the wood chips in.

 

[madscientist451]

I'm going to guess the " slightly odd taste" is from the yeast.
From the White Labs Website:
WLP 045
A strain that was widely used for Scotch Whisky production from the early 1950s, producing a complex array of ester compounds and fusel oils, as well as some spicy, clove character. Suitable for Scotch Whisky or American-style Whiskey. Used in high-gravity beers.

So I'm not surprised you are reporting an odd taste.....

 

[ianmatth]

I think you're right. I wanted a dry stout, but percentage-wise this barely got lower than WLP004 Irish Ale Yeast. I'm not even going to try WLP099 Super High Gravity Yeast as it is even funkier than WLP045 and attenuates about the same. I have used both these yeasts with great success for 18-21% ABV QIPAs, but for stouts I think I either need to go back to WLP004 or try a different yeast. For my first stout I split the batch and used US-05 and S-04, but WLP004 has been the best so far.